I don’t understand why some people make such a big deal about paying a tip at a restaurant. They don’t understand why they should pay an extra tip when the employer gets away with paying less than the minimum wage. Even if they believe the service was less than adequate, they don’t want to be viewed as being cheap. If the service was exceptional, how can they make it known since they’re already required to pay a tip?

Personally, I don’t really sympathize with any of these reasons. I try not to fall into the “poor me” and “it’s not fair” traps.

First of all, no one is making you go out to a restaurant. You’re also fully aware that tips are the norm. If you don’t want to pay the tip, then don’t go there in the first place.

If you think that you shouldn’t be responsible for subsidizing the servers salary, that the employer should just pay them more, understand that this cost would just be passed along to you as the consumer anyway. The restaurant business is very competitive and the margins are pretty slim as it is. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the restaurants would just somehow absorb the cost.

I’m also not a big fan of trying to calculate an appropriate tip based on an evaluation of the service. Sure their are times when the service is less than desirable, but have you ever tried to put yourself in their shoes? Honestly, you’ve seen some of the irritating customers that servers sometimes have to put up with as well. We also don’t know what’s going on in their lives and it may just have been a bad day for them.

For those of you who are really concerned with the tipping issue, I’m going to give you a tip. The word TIP is an acronym that stands for “To Insure Promptness”. Next time you go out, give your server a tip up front. If they look at you quizzical, simply explain to them what the acronym means. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the level of your service partly because you’ve treated them right, and also because you’ve given them something to live up to.

Complaining isn’t really going to get us anywhere. Think of ways to turn the situation in your favor. If you’re still completely against the whole tipping thing, like I said earlier, no one’s forcing your hand.

 Subscribe to Fiscal Musings | Digg This! | Stumble it!